From the Seattle Times:
- “I had a ticket on a United Airlines flight that was the second leg of a trip booked though U.S. Airways, so I couldn’t get a seat assignment until I arrived at the gate. When a gate agent got the podium around 11 p.m., I requested a window seat.
She asked me for $41.
“Sorry?”
“A window seat is considered an upgrade,” she replied, with a hint that anybody who’s boarded a plane would know that’s a given.”
Apparently what had happened is that all the “economy” seats were full, and window seats were considered “economy plus.”
“I didn’t pay the $41, mostly from principle, and exhaustion. She held onto my boarding pass until the flight was about to leave, handed it back and said there was nothing she could do. I was still on the aisle on 13D. When the plane door closed I simply moved to the empty exit row, stretched out over the two empty seats and got some sleep.”
Many airlines have resorted to making “services” a la carte in an effort to cut costs. We fail to see how a window is a service, but all in all, we prefer the aisle anyway. —MEGHANN MARCO
Want a window seat? Pay more on some flights [Seattle Times]
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As a bigger guy, I have hated window seats for years. The effort of craning my neck down low enough to actually see out those tiny windows causes me neck aches and headaches anyway. And I don’t particularly enjoy being stuffed up against the curvature of the plane’s fuselage, either. To consider a window seat an “upgrade,” they should have to provide a power port or video screen or something for all window seats.
Hmmm. The boyfriend and I flew U.S. Airways from Hartford to Mexico City (via Charlotte) in October. He had window seats on both legs of each flight at no additional cost. The tickets were purchased through the U.S. Airways website, and I made the seat selections at the time of purchase. Although we’re both in the US Airways frequent flyer program, neither of us has accumulated enough miles to merit any upgrade.
So maybe this has something to do with United?
I’m waiting for them to charge you to not get whacked in the head with a bat. “You want a non-whacking seat, sir? That will be $41.”
I think it’s a United thing. When the +1 and I flew Ted just after Labor Day they were *heavily* pushing upsales of the “economy plus” seats for $41 each way, all for the privilege of a whole whopping extra 6″ of leg room.
We didn’t get any song and dance about the windows being EP, though. That must be new.
It seems like the complaint should be leveraged against United, as that is who he booked the flight through. United should not code share with airlines that will not match policies…
And the only upgrade on a seat is the ones up front. Everything else is a desperate greedy ploy to make a few extra bucks instead of actually providing service…
Every Airline should follow the example set by Alaska airlines.
Also from the article:
United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski Janikowski said she’d checked with the boarding agent and what I was told was correct. I’d paid for an economy seat, and the economy window seats were gone. Only Economy Plus window seats were open, and people decided to fork over the extra money.
The beginning of the article (the part quoted in the post) is kind of misleading. Not all window seats cost extra. Only those in the special Economy Plus rows (i.e., rows with extra legroom such as the exit rows).
Oh? You want a seat with seat belt? That’s an upgrade. Oh you wanted air to breath? That’s an upgrade. Oh? You want to use the lavatory built for dwarfs? That’s an upgrade.
I am sick of everyone trying to nickle and dime us to death.
I think the reporter misunderstood what they were saying… Last time I flew United, the only difference was that the “Economy Plus” has like 6″ or something more foot room. There were window seats in both the Economy and the “Plus” zones.
I’m not sure, but I’m guessing what happened was that all the flight’s window seats in the Economy section were sold out (according to the computer anyway) and that the only windows available were in the Economy Plus area. Thus, getting a window would have required an upgrade.
Think about it. How the heck could a plane have orderly rows of seats, where all the window seats have more foot room? How could you fit those in orderly rows with normal seats?
In my experience Aisle’s get chosen first because of the potential for more overflow/room. It’s not much, but people seem to grab them first. I personally prefer the window so I can lean against the walll instead of falling asleep onto the person next to me.
The upgrade must have been something else. It’s kind of ridiculous they’re trying to charge anything for a seat change when there’s empty seats on the plane!
It seems like the Consumerist gnomes are back in full force. It takes me back to the salad days of Amy’s Ice Cream and the attempted beat-down of Threadless. Ahhh.
OK, Consumerist, get this through your thick head. No window seats in Economy available. Economy Plus (like Business Class without the Class!) has plenty of seats available, including window seats. Pay to go to Economy Plus, and that means you’ll get a window seat. This isn’t a story. Next time, read the associated article more closely. You guys were starting to shed your reputation as the sloppy buck-toothed runt of the Gawker litter — don’t fall back into your old habits.
Yeah, I reread the article and it’s a United thing. And it appears to be the whole “Economy Plus” thing.
Like I said, U.S. Airways did not charge extra for window seats, at least as of mid-October.
jwissick said: “Oh? You want a seat with seat belt? That’s an upgrade.”
Actually, I would much rather have a seat without a seat belt. I mean, come on. Has an airplane seat belt ever been anything other than an annoyance? If the plane is moving violently enough to require a seat belt to keep your butt in the seat, you have MUCH bigger immediate problems than staying in the seat.
Perhaps it is a United thing. So let’s change the headline and picture accordingly.
Actually, though rare, if you hit a pocket of turbulence and you’re not wearing a seat belt, you’re going to end up on the ceiling, possibly with a broken neck. The plane’s not in danger, but you sure as hell are.
They aren’t there to help if you crash. They’re there to help you in the air.
In fairness to the Consumerist editors, The AP Author, Eileen Fleming, apparently didn’t get it, either.
Amazingly, she got the United guy’s quote right (which explains the whole thing very clearly), but the article more or less said “United tried to charge me for a window!!11!” from top to bottom.
I’ve had some bad experiences with United, but this article is just an ill-informed person completely missing the point. The difference is that this particular mistaken individual writes for the Associated Press…
In fairness to the Consumerist editors, The AP Author, Eileen Fleming, apparently didn’t get it, either.
All true. At the same time, now that Consumerist has been made aware of the facts for quite some time, I kind of think there’s a duty to correct the post here. Given that part of the mission here seems to be to discourage inaccuracy and misleading statements when it comes to consumer information, leaving up such an inaccurate and misleading post is a little ironic.
This is pretty disgraceful.
I felt an utter disgust this thanksgiving break when I flew JFK-LAX on AA. There was nothing bad about the service, but just the mode of travel has become so utterly pedestrian and miniscule.
I paid $360 (a bucketload, IMHO) for a VERY cramped aisle seat (I prefer window, so that I can put my head against the wall and sleep). I’m a reasonably tall 6’2″ (with longer legs), and I need some legspace – of which I obviously I had none, and my legs were numb by the end of the 6 hour flight. My neck hurt like hell, because of the awkward angle I tried sleeping in since I wanted to avoid the nasty smell emanating from the seat fabric.
There is NO meal service on the flight (not just mine, but on any for this sector), only a non-alcoholic beverage cart, twice in the flight. Even then, they won’t even give you the whole can of soda, just the glassful. Their $5 “snacks” are so utterly tasteless that I was willing to pay $13 at the airport to something a little less tasteless.
They don’t even give out headphones now – either you bring your own, or pay $2 for a “headset”. I’ve seen tincans with better sound quality.
The “movie” on the flight was some G-rated feel-good Disney movie starring Toby Keith, the country guy. A movie so bad, that I couldn’t get past the opening credits.
Even AA had their “Economy Plus” option for ~$50, that gives you exit row (which I thought was usually for passengers with babies or taller passengers).
My point, I guess is, travelling by air is no longer a luxury, but an ordeal (yes, I am Captain obvious). But, then why am I paying so much to be treated so badly? I really hope/wish that I can avoid all air travel in the near future unless I can upgrade to first/business or afford my own plane. I had this thought in complete seriousness, because I just don’t want to treated this badly, and have to pay this much money for it.
AA doesn’t charge Economy plus -its UA..
and no – the exit seat rows aren’t for babies (except winny adults) or tall travelers. Either set aside for elites – or the luck of the draw at the gate. You have to be 15 + and able bodied to assist in an emergency.
and if you paid $360 R/T for a transcon – that was a steal!
you either need to fly more – or take the train!
you either need to fly more – or take the train!
And that right there is why people wont fly more. Between the full cavity search for that normal size bottle of Pert Plus to nearly 400 bucks to get nothing of the luxury that flight had (and dont blame airplane costs, I have worked with people in the industry, its a lot cheaper than they make it out to be, even aviation fuel) its a wonder anyone does it anymore. You would probably be more comfortable driving cross country than flying these days.
United just plain sucks. Period. Last summer (summer!) I got stuck in Chicago for three days trying to get to Sacramento (Sacramento!). They cancelled so many flights that the Airport was packed with people. Thousands with no where to go.
All tickets had to be rebooked. United had three (three!) agents working their counter. I counted over two hundred-fifty people standing in the line to get their tickets rebooked. (yes, I did count them; I nothing better to do).
To add to all this, bear-in-mind that Chicago is United’s home airport. It was disgraceful. Then, when we were supposed to board the plane and finally go to Sacramento, we were held up for four more hours because there were no stewardesses for the flight. When they finally came walking down the concourse, a hundred people let out a rousing cheer! We felt sorry for them; they had been dragged off the plane from which they had just arrived, and pressed into service; they worked about a twenty-hour day.
Oh yeh. United lost my luggage and took over three days to find it. Unbelievable.
wreckingcru,
Your rant doesn’t make any sense beyond letting yourself rant. I know this is a “consumerist” website, but it often helps to look at the corporate side of it. [Disclaimer: I am in no way working for any airline or airline related industry]
Air travel has been long gong from being a luxury, especially if you’re flying in coach. In addition, $360 is really not that much for a 3000 mile flight for 6 hours. You will not be able to find an equivalent mode of transportation that can rival that in terms of time and cost. Airlines have traditionally and currently not been able to make a profit. The only way they can scrimp by is to cut certain services (such as meals or free headset). Personally, I would prefer that they cut these services in exchange for the lower costs.
You also complained that they showed some G-rated movie. It is a shame that they couldn’t suit everyone’s taste. It would line them up for a lawsuit if they had shown something besides the lowest common denominator, such as Striptease or Saving Private Ryan.
Lastly, you are incorrect about AA offering economy plus for an additional cost. Unlike United, AA has removed two rows of seats in coach on certain plains to give the entire coach cabin more legroom. (http://www.thetravelinsider.com/2003/0530.htm).
Also, legally, a mother and her baby cannot sit in the exit row. There are requirements that passengers sitting in the exit row be able to assist in an emergency.
Airlines have been pretty accomodating to people of tall statures. If you had asked, they could have moved you to the exit row and/or upgraded you to first class (if there are seats available). (http://www.flyana.com/tall.html).
You really have to look at the history of air travel to see how we got to where we are at now. Back when air travel was a luxury, it was only available to the people with wealth and targetted to price-insensitive business class travelers. In the last 15 or so years, the number of price-sensitive leisure travelers increased significantly leading to price wars throughout the industry.
As I said previously, as a leisure traveler, I would much prefer that they cut all the unnecessary services and maintain a lower price than be pampered on the flight. The amount of money that I save, I could then spend at my destination. In addition, you can’t ask for first class treatment for economy class prices.
All in all, I’m pretty happy with air travel (except for the scrutiny of TSA checkpoints). I am able to purchase below market tickets by doing my research as a good consumer. In addition, I have been offered free upgrades a number of times in my travel by knowing the ins and outs of the system and just being lucky. That is the point that you get first class service for economy class prices.
Joe, sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can get an exit row seat while you’re booking online. And you’re right — exit row occupants have to be 15+, able-bodied, and able to speak and understand English (at least everywhere I’ve seen).
GRR!!! I just typed out a long response to wreckingcru’s comment and lost it because of an error when the comment submitted.
Anyways, short summary:
1) Try to find an equivalent form of transportation for under $360 to get 3000 miles in 6 hours. During or close to a holiday weekend. Good luck.
2) I, personally, would prefer that they eliminate unnecessary services, such as meals and headsets, on short flights in return for maintaining or keeping the lower price. In addition, you can bring your own headset and/or sandwich with you on the flight.
3) They had to show a G-Rated movie because it’s the lowest common denominator. They would be setting themselves up for a lawsuit if they showed anything else
4) As others have mentioned, AA doesn’t offer “economy plus”. The closes thing that resembles that is on certain planes they’ve eliminated 2 rows of seat to give the entire cabin more room. This doesn’t cost “extra” per se.
5) Exit rows cannot legally be given to a woman with a baby. They have to be physically able to perform the tasks of the exit row duties in an emergency.
6) History lesson: Flying has long gone since been a luxury. It was a luxury back in the early days, but only the wealthy and business class flew. In the last 15 years, there was a boom in price-sensitive leisure travelers that triggered many price wars and brought prices down. (http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/generic/0,295582,sid11_gci1091516,00.html)
7) If you are a tall traveler, airlines have been pretty accomodating to people of your stature (when possible). If you had asked, they could have seated you to an exit row or upgraded you to first class. (http://www.flyana.com/tall.html)
8) Since you’re a tall person with special needs, you should have consulted seatguru.com to find out what seat would have been best for your needs.
8) You can’t get first class service for economy class prices.
In response to acambras, you can’t book exit row seats through the online ticketing. Those seats (along with others) are only opened up a couple of hours before the flight. If you really want an exit row seat, you can show up to the airport early and ask for the seats.
Anyways, all in all, I’m pretty happy with air travel. I have been able to purchased tickets at relatively low prices by doing research as a good consumer. In addition, by knowing the ins and outs of the system and a lot of luck, I have been offered free upgrades a number of times. That is the point that you get first class service for economy class prices.
abc
The Seattle Times reporter is way off the mark. A few points:
1) She could have received a seat assignment at booking. Her reservation was either under a United flight number or a US codeshare. All she had to do was call the relevant airline and get her seat assignment.
2) She took an exit row without checking with the flight attendants. This is a violation of both FAA and United policy. The FAA requires that anyone seated in an exit row is required, amongst other qualifiers, to be willing and able to assist the crew in case of an evacuation of the aircraft. United requires that any passenger seated in an exit row acknowledge their responsibility with a spoken ‘yes’ or other affirmation. A nod of the head will not do as you must be able to communicate in English. I’ve seen several passengers moved from an exit row because their English skills were insufficient.
I once requested an exit row seat claiming my height, and willingness to perform the emergency duties if needed, and the *rude* ticketing agent snapped “exit row is for babies only!”
VERBATIM, This was her honest-to-god reply.
I figured it made SOME sense since the center exit -row seats have the collapsible baby changing stations (right?)
In my experience, I’ve only been able to snag exit-row seats when I had a friendly travel agent who I buttered generously, or booking months in advance.
I understand the apparent *cheapness* of $360 R/T transcon, but $360 is $360, and I expect some level of service for that much money. And the regular fare NY-LA is usually ~$250 or so.
Dutchflat, if that many flights were canceled, I’m guessing there was bad weather in Chicago. So…what is United supposed to do? Wave the magic weather wand? Fly their planes in a storm?
And those flight attendants couldn’t have flown a “20 hour day”. There are strict union and FAA rules that limit the number of hours they can fly, both as a safety precaution and because they negotiated that as part of their contract with the airline.
I can see the whole “economy is full, you’ll have to buy the ‘economy plus’ seat” thing, except for that United stole that extra 6″ of leg room for the ‘economy plus’ seats from every other poor sucker in “economy minus.”
I was recently on a United flight out of Chicago in a 757 and let me say that I’ve never had so little leg room in my life. By the time I reached my destination after the 2 1/2 hour flight, I thought they were going to have to amputate my legs at the knees.
Maybe next time the gate agent will just shoot me with a tranquilzer gun and throw me in the cargo hold. (I’m sorry, sir..cargo is sold out, but you can upgrade to “cargo plus” for an additional $41.)
Moo.
I think the worst part about flying is the cleanliness of the planes. I’m accustomed to not having space for anything but a small book, but it’s atrocious that they spend less time cleaning the plane than they do cleaning a movie theatre. Gum, leftover food, wrappers, and everything else imaginable, waiting right there for you at your seat. Yuck
Wow, what a bunch of whiners. Wreckingcru, first of all, did you forget the oomlaut over the u in your name or is it meant to look like you’re an idiot? Secondly, $250 for JFK-LAX? When? 1996? That’s a 300 – 400 dollar flight, depending on when you book. $350 is a solid price. And never ever in my life have I seen a baby changing table in an exit row. Considering you’ve gotta be 15 or older to sit in an exit row, I’d think that’d make changing stations a little inappropriate, unless you’re flying FetishAir.
Seriously, people, you demanded cheap air fares. You’re the ones eeking every last penny out of the companies you use. So they’re doing it right back to you. Don’t like crappy flying conditions? Then don’t fly Southwest. Fly airlines that give you lots of things on the flight. Fly airlines that treat you right. Get on a frequent flier program. Buy business class. “But clever, that’s so expensive!” Yeah, well, that crap costs money. Now you really just want to get there as cheaply as possible, don’t you? Then shut up and take it. If companies can make money off of giving you a gracious luxury flying experience, they will. If they can’t make money off of it, then they won’t. That’s that.
I’ve gotten exit rows on last minute flight purchases (like a day or so ahead of the flight) where it’s almost full. It usually works out that I can’t pick a seat while booking, I check in and I get a boarding pass that says my seat will be assigned at the gate. I then get the usual exit-row questions at the gate and placed into an exit row.
Also, I’ll reiterate that the economy plus upgrade thing is a United practice, not USAir.
Yeah, Ben and Meghann, when are you going to change/update the post? I’m not working PR for US Airways or anything, but this really isn’t about something they did (yet the headline and photo imply otherwise).
Baby changing tables in exit rows? That can’t be right — it must have been something else.
And clever epithet, while you make some valid points, do you really enhance your argument by calling wrecking cru an idiot?
By the way, the word is “umlaut.”
Federal regulations require that anyone sitting in an exit row is 15 years or older. No babies.
As a 6′+ tall, Star Alliance frequent flier – thank god for Economy Plus. Flying mainly with UA I can’t corroborate all these horror stories – no lost baggage, no horrible delays. The planes are getting pretty grotty, but no worse than any other US airline. I wish we could have an Air France or BA quality airline in this country – maybe the pace of consolodations will yield something better.
This is nothing new. Northwest has been doing it for quite a while, inside link.
The thing is if you have frequent flier miles, you get to upgrade for free. It’s a nice bonus for people that fly the same airlines over and over. Like me who doesnt get a choice, I just get “oh AA is $2 cheaper than NWA, thats the flight your on”.
Plus they dont ‘steal’ room from other seats. The upgrade seats are usually bulkhead seats with more legroom or exit row seats or ones behind the galley where there isnt a wall, depending on the plane.
Just a little (somewhat related) note to all you average heighth people in the exit rows: I don’t stand in the front at your concerts, so stay the hell away from my leg room. That is all.
I think “Economy Plus” is getting to be a thing with airlines, but I am surprised that the gate agent would demand payment at boarding time. In my experience (with Northwest, which has a similar program, though, not UA), the charge is for booking an extra-special-legs-not-on-your-ears seat in advance. I always try to get an exit row, which NW counts as Economy Plus, and the way it’s always seemed to work is, book an exit row seat in advance, pay extra money. Wait until you get to the gate and ask to be reassigned, no charge (presumably because either there are no such spots left or there are and everyone’s checked in and such seats are no longer at a premium). Sometimes I’ve even been able to switch to an exit row seat the day of with no extra charge.
On the other hand, I’m getting really sick of having to wheel and deal to get a seat where the person in front of me isn’t pretty much sitting on my lap. Is it too much to ask for airlines to have enough between-seat room that my short-ass 5’2″ self can bend forward to reach my bag under the seat? I have no idea how people of above-average height can even function on an airplane.
The people talking about ‘baby changing tables’ aren’t talking about exit rows — they’re talking about bulkheads, which are entirely different. Infants and children under 15 should never be allowed into an exit row. They are not able to assist in an emergency, may in fact become an obstacle in an emergency and, if there is an emergency, the parental instinct is going to kick into overdrive.
There are actually bulkhead seats equipped with changing tables?
And people are complaining about breastfeeding on airplanes???
This is a non-story… see clever epithet’s post for example. We need the consumerist, but we don’t need the over-reaction consumerist.
Complaining about US Airays?? I have a really big one…How about the fact that I booked a flight for my 9 and 10 yr olds. They cancelled the flight, put me on stand-by for the next one and then proceed to tell my 2 hours later that the flight is over bokked by 30 people. Then proceed to tell me that there is nothing else they can do. They ended up on American Airlines at 6:50 that night. Original flight was 7:40 am. Then they were giving me a hard time about getting my 40.00, I just paid in cash, back for the stewardess. I ended up putting 124.00 out of my pocket that day because of their mistakes. I have emailed them, no response and I have called them for 4 days now and all it says is that it’s not accepting phone calls, to email them. How can you treat Unaccompanied minors that way???? They should of been priority.
Angel, PA